Underage booze sting nets 7 in Brunswick

BRUNSWICK — An undercover law enforcement team cited seven clerks in seven stores throughout the city Thursday for allegedly selling alcohol to someone underage.

Detective Brian Schmitt said a team of officers sent the department’s 20-year-old intern into all seven stores with a $20 bill and had her try to purchase alcohol.

At each location she walked out with beer or liquor, he said.

“We were surprised that pretty much every establishment they went to, they sold our intern alcohol,” Schmitt said.

He said none of the clerks asked to check her ID.

The sale of alcohol to those under the legal drinking age of 21 is an issue not unique to Brunswick, Schmitt said, but police hope measures such as this operation work to combat the problem.

The goal, he said, is “that the clerks at our establishment will take a proactive stance” and “card anyone who looks under 30.”

Schmitt said police had not received recent complaints of underage alcohol sales, but they conduct stings such as this periodically in order to be proactive.

Each of the seven store clerks was charged with one count of underage sale of alcohol, a first-degree misdemeanor, which is punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Schmitt said the businesses where the alcohol was sold have not been penalized as a result of the sting, but reports will be sent to the Ohio Investigative Unit of the state Department of Public Safety, which could take action against the businesses.